Path to agric revolution

For some years, the growth of the agricultural sector has been stunted by paucity of funds, crude implements, lack of government support and land tenure system. These have triggered food insecurity. But the Lagos State government is set to reverse the trend by boosting farming and food production through the building of farm estates and settlements across the state. DANIEL ESSIET reports.

The agricultural sector plays an important role in Lagos State’s economic development. The sector does not just provide rural employment and uplift rural incomes, it also ensures food security. But food supplies to the state is short of what is required.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, said aggregate food supplied internally was less than 10 per cent of total consumption. In addition, national demand for agricultural produce is expanding rapidly and there are many niches the state can exploit, given its natural advantages. Lawal said the state was poised to raise the bar to 25 per cent in the next five years through its various projects.

To this end, the state has intensified farming activities in areas where it has comparative, ecological and socio-economic advantages. These areas, he stated, include fisheries, livestock, vegetable production, as well as agro-processing, with emphasis on rice and cassava. He said marketing and the whole value chain would also be given attention. Thus, the state is pursuing the strategy of building farm estates and settlements across major farming communities, he said.

Through the estates, the government envisions a transformation from fragmented and small-scale farms to integrated, clustered and large-scale agri-businesses. Key agricultural commodities covered under the farm scheme are: rice, vegetable, poultry, piggery and aquaculture.

By using farm estates, Lawal said the state was moving towards a model which is not only inclusive but anchored on market-centricity, economies of scale and value chain integration of the various factors involved in the production of the commodities.

He said farmers using the estates would benefit from extension services and inputs, such as seedlings, fertilisers and pesticides, adding that the government was making efforts to develop critical infrastructure, such as roads in aquaculture zones. This is to support the private sector’s investment in operating infrastructure, such as processing plants, grow-out farms and hatcheries, he noted.

He observed that the absence of farm-to-market chains was the primary obstacle inhibiting agri-business takeoff. For this reason, he said the government was working to allow farm-to-market chains to operate efficiently.

Agriculture Youth Empowerment Scheme (AGRIC-YES) Estate

The Agriculture Youth Empowerment Scheme is at Araga Farm Settlement in Epe Local Government Area. Through the scheme, the state is attracting young men to farming. One hundred youths were drawn and housed within the estate. They were trained for 18 months in crops and live stock production.

Dormitories are available for new intakes while the programme offers resources, hands-on training, and technical assistance on sustainable practices. These include production, processing, business principles, and marketing of farm-raised products, such as rams, chickens and vegetables.

During their training, the young farmers raise rams, poultry, fish and vegetables. Farmer-trainees are expected to operate independently after the 18 months of training.

Also, the programme is training the students to: produce building materials for green houses, improve soil fertility, develop irrigation, manage pests/weeds and promote marketing. As a result, Lagosians can now access hot and sweet pepper and pumpkin green.

The reason for adopting the strategy, Lawal explained, was to reduce dependency on the government for employment, create and sustain new jobs and reduce frustration among young people. With the average age of farmers increasing and the sector facing skills shortage, he said it was important for the industry to attract and retain young people.

Lawal said the programme has completed two cycles of training, internship and settlement with 100 youths each during the review period. He said the first batch of youths that graduated in December 2010, are about to settle in newly-built 100-unit two-bedroom flats at the farm settlement fashioned after the Israeli-type – Kibbutz.

They trainees will be empowered with loans to establish their farms, payable within five years. The products from the scheme include over 1,500 crates of eggs daily, 32,000 broilers monthly, 18 tonnes of fresh fish per cycle and about 160 tonnes of cabbage, water melon, cucumber, pepper and assorted leafy vegetable which being marketed in the state.

The settlement, Lawal said, is a highly diversified system.

The Head of Training and Course Officer, Vegetables, Agric-Yes Training Institute, Mr Anjolaiya Hakeem, said the aim of the scheme was to breed a new generation of agro-entrepreneurs in poultry, fish farming, bee-keeping and an-all season vegetable farming cycle.

“Since this programme started in 2009, we have trained about 300 youths and we are in the fourth batch. We train them in poultry farming, crop farming, fish farming, meat production and so on. We get our students through advertisements in the media. After that, we conduct a test for them, we usually take 36 females and 64 males for each batch, makin 100 students for a session,” he said.

He said after the training, the participants are divided into co-operatives and each group would be given N100 million to execute its agricultural venture.

“Apart from the N100 million, the participants are also given accommodation where they can live with their families.We also have a fully automated layer pen. We can’t even meet the demand of the market now,” he said, adding that at the estate, there is a hatchery where hens lay eggs. The eggs are collected and incubated until they begin to hatch in about 20 days. The chicks live in large grow-out houses.”

A lady trainee and leader of G2 group under the programme, Miss Esther Akintelu, sees her future in agriculture. She made the switch in career after graduating with a degree in Public Administration. She is keen on developing her skills, knowledge and experience to advance her career in the industry.

Oladuran Oloude, leader of G1, is a graduate of Civil Engineering. Growing up on a farm settlement gave him an understanding of the business administration side of agric enterprise, as well as the daily demands of the businesses. He and his colleagues are learning vegetable production, using plasticulture plots under the green house.

One of the resident instructors, Mr Vascular Olusola, said the young farmers need to have the mindset of entrepreneurs to succeed and enjoy farming and the independence that comes with it.

Mr Johnson Oluwashola, the Project Officer, Ram Ranch, said the institute has about 1,500 rams. He said the rams were brought in when they were five months old, adding that though they were not involved in the breeding of the rams, the institute would soon embark on breeding at the ranch. Johnson said the success recorded at the farm was due to the state government’s investment in agriculture to create jobs and enhance food security.

Ikorodu Fish Farm Estate

Established on a 34-hectare parcel of land at Odogunyan, Ikorodu, the estate is producing an average of 10,000 tonnes of fresh fish per annum. A technology demonstration centre, comprising 50,000 juvenile/cycle fish hatchery and 300- kilogramme fish capacity, a processing unit has been built.

A fish farmer in the estate, Mrs Bolaji Dania, said the government has helped farmers a lot by assisting them with feeds, adding that the government provided the needed information to farmers on how to improve their farms.

Mrs Dania said: “I am proud of the government, because it has made things easy for farmers like us. Being on this estate to farm, has helped me in getting access to information from the government.Government also subsidises some of the products for us and I was even opportuned to get a loan from the World Bank through the assistance of the government.

“I started fish farming with three ponds on one plot five years ago, now I have 18 ponds on three plots of land. People come with big trucks to buy fish and we sell them as fingerlings. We really need more people to go into fish farming in Lagos State because we can’t satisfy those that come to buy. Sometimes, they buy seven to eight thousand tonnes and we can’t meet that demand here.”

Ketu-Ereyun fish farm estate

Another initiative of the government is the proposed Ketu-Ereyun Fish Farm Estate. It will be sited on a 60-hectare land on the Itoikin-Epe Road. This was conceptualised as a follow-up to the Ikorodu Fish Farm Estate. In the same manner, it has been divided into 482 plots for allocation to interested and qualified members of the public. Like the Ikorodu Fish Farm, the Ketu-Ereyun Fish Farm also has capacity for 10,000 tonnes but with additional supporting facilities like hatcheries, processing and marketing centres.The estate is expected to produce about 4.685 million tonnes of fresh fish annually when fully established.

Rice-for-job farm Settlement

Rice-for-Job is located on about 200 hectares of land in Itoikin, Epe and Ikoga in Badagry. The settlement has a modern rice processing and milling centre at Imota. The programme was launched in 2008 to create jobs for the unemployed; strengthen local capacity for rice production; achieve a production target of 1,600 tonnes of paddy per annum and facilitate access to rice processing equipment.

The programme has positively impacted 180 farmers within the last three years. The farmers produced about 180 tonness of rice, which re still far off from the consumption target of 540,000 tonnes per annum for Lagos alone.

The officer in charge of the programme in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr Akinola Oyebola, said the programme has created remunerative economic opportunities for young people in agriculture and built the skills they need to take advantage of these opportunities. He said the programme has given them the skills and confidence to run profitable farms or start businesses which would make upstanding citizens and community leaders of tomorrow.

One of the beneficiaries of the project, Mr Adeniyi Ayino, said the programme has helped him a lot, adding that now he could operate a tractor very well and work perfectly as a rice farmer. “It is an interesting programme, it is a good opportunity for youths today and because we want to participate in the solution in ensuring food security in Lagos state that is why some of us go into agriculture,” he said.

Imota rice processing Mill

The establishment of this plant has created the first integrated rice company in Nigeria and enabled farmers to share in the value captured in the downstream segment. The company will guarantee a minimum income to farmers. Shedding more light on the rice mill, a consultant to the Lagos State government on rice project, Dr Oluwarotimi Fashola, said the mill was built with Korean technology to the highest operational standards to process 20,000 tonnes of paddy rice per annum. Operating optimally, the rice mill is estimated to produce between 350,000 and 400,000 bags of rice yearly, he said.

The primary goal of the project, he said, is to reduce dependence on imported rice and also create jobs and wealth for the people. The mill processes 2.5 tonnes of paddy rice which consist of huller, de-stoner polisher, grader, colour sorter and automated bagging and weighing bridge, per hour.

The following are inclusive in the package: 10-tonne soaking tank, a set of per-boiler and steamer, 15- tonne capacity drier and 60-tonne silo attached to the factory. The factory was built with two other structure for paddy rice storage of 10,000 tonnes capacity and finished rice store cum office space.The complex has 600KVA generator, an industrial borehole and two sets of water tanks; a steel over head tank of 55,000 litres capacity and sets of ground plastic tanks with a total capacity of 45,000 litres. The mill with optimum operating capacity can process up to 20,000 tonnes yearly and is estimated to generate at least 50,000 jobs. Apart from the whole grain table rice, the following by-products are also money earners: broken rice, used for rice pudding, tuwo; ground rice and rice flour. Rice ban – highly sort after for livestock feeds, oil extract and the cosmetic industry.

Fashola said rice processed at the mill are far better than polished rice that are in the market because of its nutritious value. He said the mill has three main buildings. The first is where the raw paddy rice brought from the farm is kept, then to main building where the rice is processed and finally to the store room where it is stored before it is dispatched to the market.

According to him, “We produce 2.5 tonnes per hour and an approximate 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes per annum.”

On the type of rice processed at the mill, Fashola said: “Eko rice is a special brand of rice which is FARO 44 or FARO 52. We use this type of grain of rice for uniformity and that helps in monitoring the standard we produce. We specialise in par-boiled rice. We supply our rice to the government within the ministry and within the Alausa axis”.

Farmers at the settlements will soon reduce post-harvest losses, increase income, and access post-harvest facilities with the rice processing plant which has become operational. The plant is a fulfillment of farmers’ dream of a facility that houses all the equipment for successful rice production. The project aims to improve the efficiency of rice production, storage, drying, and processing to reduce post-harvest losses and improve the quality of rice grains for human consumption. With all the equipment ready for operation, the farmers are optimistic that the facility will assist them to increase not only their income but also the attainment of self-sufficiency in rice production for the state.

High quality cassava flour factory

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will be setting up a 1,000 metric tonne high quality cassava processing factory in Imota. When fully operational, the cassava factory will directly and indirectly engage over 500 people. This venture is in line with the Federal Government’s plan to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported wheat.

Erikodo poultry estate

The Erikorodo Poultry Estate, Ikorodu, is one of the five farm estates in various parts of the state to bring about self-sufficiency in chicken production.The poultry estate, has 10,000-bird capacity mechanised broiler house, 2,000 birds per day processing capacity plant and 1.5t per hour feed mill.

Speaking with reporters, the Principal Agric Officer, Mr Idris Abideen, said the estate has a feed mill, a processing plant. He said occupants of the estate are expected to build chicken farms where the chicks are raised. He disclosed that broiler chickens are bred, especially for meatiness, quick growth, and weight gain. They are bred for excessive weight gain, especially in their breasts and thighs. The chicks live in the growing-out houses for about six weeks. At six weeks, the chicks usually weigh about 4 lb (1.8 kg), and are ready for slaughter. When the chickens are old enough for slaughter, Abideen said they are taken to the processing plant.

At the processing plant, workers take the birds and hang them by their feet on a conveyor belt. In a typical process, the birds on the conveyor are first passed through a vat of electrified salt water called a stun cabinet. The mild electrical current in the water stuns or paralyses the birds. The birds’ carcasses hang until all the blood has drained.

Pig farming estate

The Lagos State Government has two pig farm estates – the Oke-Aro Pig Farm Estate and the Gberigbe Pig Farm Estate – located on a 80-hectare of land. The goal is for 1,200 pig farmers to nurture a total pig population of over 88,000.

Vegetable farm settlements

The state government is adopting the vegetable farming estate initiatives, similar in concept to fish and pig farming programmes. To this end, about 80 hectares of land have been designated as vegetable farms in three different locations – Igbodu (50 hectares), Iyaafin (20 hectares) and Araga (five hectares).

Farm settlements are created as a stable place for farmers to live, grow crops and possibly raise animals.